No one takes the clumsy Max Klopstock seriously. Even the gluttonous goat makes fun of him. Max wants to prove his worth to his father and lovely Lotte. So he packs his knapsack and heads out into the world like his older brothers Emil and Joeckel did.

Experienced judge Lena Kalbach works at the district court in Frankfurt, the capital of Hesse. She is a woman with moral principles - and when she sees them violated, she doesn't take her legal duties too seriously. For example, when the shrewd lawyer Teddy Klein succeeds in getting a client acquitted using shady methods. Outraged, Lena refuses to accept the verdict. As punishment, the rebellious judge is transferred from the district court to a local court. She is immediately transferred to her old hometown of Fulda in eastern Hesse, of all places. For Lena, this is a professional and social relegation, as she left her hometown 30 years ago "because of the cramped conditions". Her grown-up daughter Nike, who works as a public prosecutor at the local court, lives here with her husband Johannes and their two children Clara and Emanuel.

At the end of winter, there is a game of bowls in the north. The islanders are proud of their bowling ball, which Thies' grandfather found 60 years ago. Only Katharina believes the archaeologist Jens Jeschen, who wants to examine the sphere in a laboratory on the mainland and suspects a Viking grave and treasure on the island, that it is a medieval celestial globe.

When being sent to a boarding school for classical music, teenager Julia discovers rock music - and rock musicians. Torn between these two musical worlds, she has to find her own way.

A woman is faced with a big decision. As the young mother of a 15-year-old son, she believes she has missed out on something. Without further ado, she leaves her husband, who is 30 years her senior, and rediscovers life with a sporty surfer.